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John is Busy Slaying Pandas, I’m Filling In

John begged me to do a guest post on his little personal blog here, so I figured why not? The problem is, however, I don’t know anything about $1,000 meals, wacky foreign cars, or Vancouver. But I’m going to do my best to fill John’s giant green gloves and write about something I know and that I think you guys will appreciate – blogging!

It’s no secret that one of the most important requirements for a successful blog is that it be updated often, usually on a daily basis. John talked about it in 10 Blogging Mistakes to Avoid and in Creating Content. But what do you do if you go on vacation, attend an out of state (or out of country) conference, or have a family emergency? What if you get a new job or a promotion that demands much more of your time than before? What if you just want an extra set of hands to help you out? The solution is guest blogging.

Guest blogging is basically getting a friend to help you update your blog while you’re away or just to give you a little more time for other things. Just about every blog has had or will have at least one guest blogger in its lifetime. It’s a common practice. So why is guest blogging so delicious?

It Helps the Main Blogger

As I said earlier, guest blogging has a lot of benefits for the main blogger. Allowing a guest to post on your blog gives your readers fresh, new content without you having to write it yourself. Your readers get their daily article while you have time for other things. A ton of popular blogs utilize guest bloggers. Michael Arrington of TechCrunch, for example, has a bunch of guest bloggers posting right now while he’s attending FOWA. The readers appreciate the consistent flow of content, and Arrington I’m sure appreciates not having to post it.

It Helps the Guest Blogger

While I’m busy writing this post John is probably sitting at home counting his money for his upcoming February recap. Does that bother me? No. Why? Because guest blogging isn’t just beneficial to the main blogger, it has a ton of perks for the guest blogger as well. For example, when guest blogging I have the opportunity to slyly sneak in a few sexy links back to my own blog. Hopefully you guys will enjoy this post and be interested in reading my other articles (which you’ll find via my sneaky links). I also get to expose myself to a wider audience within the industry. John has a lot of readers who may never have heard of me before. Well now you’ve heard of me. That adds to my personal branding (hopefully in a good way) – definite perk.

It Helps the Readers

At the end of the day, readers want good content to read. Guest bloggers give them new content when the main blogger doesn’t have time to. Rocket science, right?

Overall guest blogging helps everyone: the main blogger gets a break, the guest blogger gets some additional exposure, and the readers get their fill of content. So how about the next time you need a short break, have an emergancy, or are going out of town, why not try to find a guest blogger to take your spot and keep your readers happy?

I think just asking should do well enough for the most part. They may ask you to explain the benefits (in which you could reference this post or John’s post on NBB). From the people I’ve talked to, most tend to understand the potential of guest blogging, so it doesn’t usually take all that much persuading.

Great to see you both changing things up a bit with the surprise visits. You both can do this on such high profile blogs because you have the credibility, and know the expectations of your readers and the ability for the guest blogger to deliver. Good post “feRos.” ð

Nice jump, Jane. He caused mine to leap by like $200k. But that’s because I was like 594k. Since then, with the addition of more and more links, I’ve gone to about 119k (last I checked). My new goal is 67.9k. ð

Hey, I just posted a top ten computer problems list if anyone wants to check it out or share it with someone that you know that is not so computer savy. I hope it can be useful. I also mentioned this on Matt’s blog on the post that John wrote.

One important thing guest blogging does is to add a fresh perspective to a blog that has the same author.

If you had a close friend who was always talking with the same mentality and attitude and then for one day you switched that friend with someone new, you will probably realize the nice and important things your close friend said while learning new things from this new person at the same time.

"How I Went From Zero to Over $100,000 a Month"

The Original Dot Com Mogul

John Chow, a damn fine person, friend of the community, Ultimate Fighting Championship contestant, member of the Save the Whales Foundation, the man who controls the black market on baby seal pelts and member of the probably yoâ daddy foundation...

John Chow rocketed onto the blogging scene when he showed the income power of blogging by taking his blog from making zero to over $40,000 per month in just two years.